Fake News, Why Tanzania should stick to its Reform Agenda
By Harold Hans, WASHINGTON – YET again, the Western media, having destroyed unity and harmony in some of their countries, have continues with the mudslinging campaign against some African countries especially the aggressive government of Tanzania.
The false news machine is back on track. I have just discovered President Trump is right in demanding accountability in the US media. As an intern who worked in the Zanzibar side of Tanzania for 2 years I felt bad to read the latest round of such falsehoods coming from a Washington Post article titled; “Why is once-peaceful Tanzania detaining journalists, arresting schoolgirls and killing opposition leaders?” authored by one Rachael McLellan.
As someone who witnessed how Tanzanians continue to enjoy improved social well-being including free primary and secondary education, access to improved health services, increased revenue collections and better pay to farmers for their produce, I wonder what has fallen to the journalism standards of the western media?
It has been a trend time and again for the western media to write only fabricated negative stories from Africa; totally shying away from positive issues or rather fact-check; realities on the ground, sorting out on what is not right for the nation and which are in the interests of the people.
Why all this slander campaign at this time? The answer is simple; foreign players in the business world abroad, and particularly, United States and Europe, have been badly hurt by daring reforms by the Tanzanian reform president Dr. John Pombe Magufuli aimed at curbing plundering of the country’s resources.
It is with no doubt that the previously sponsors and plunderers of the country’s immense resources namely minerals, forestry products, marine resources, among others, not to mention a litany of shoddy contracts from multinationals, are quite ill-fated with the reforms which are aimed at sealing the loopholes.
The former pillagers and their collaborators are thus turning to the media in their countries to paint a negative picture of Tanzania to their audience and somewhat to influence cutting of financial aid from their home countries, which as a matter of fact, is on the decline as the country strives for self-reliance.
In the recent article by Rachael McLellan, who claims to be a PhD Candidate at Princeton University researching opposition parties and decentralization in Tanzania, the unconcealed fabrication of facts is obvious.
The author, apparent ignorant of immigration laws in Tanzania or acting on malice, cites the recent detention of two members of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) who were briefly held by immigration officials for breaching the immigration laws and regulations. I was once detained in France on a visa issue. Its normal and once sorted one is free.
The media reported clearly that the two media activists entered Tanzania on a holiday visa but instead ventured into media advocacy and holding meetings with local politicians, admitted of their wrongdoing and were immediately freed. How can a Princeton PhD miss this simple truth?
For a respected newspaper like the Washington Post, it should have known of the facts and report accordingly but because of the seemingly hidden agenda, it went on and published the lies, ostensibly to please those behind the campaign.
The author continues to claim that pregnant girls have been expelled from schools. Had she conducted a fair and balanced research she would understand that Tanzania has in place special arrangement for girls who conceive while studying and no one is expelled.
Morally what the nation is against is allowing a class of teens to be crippled by half of them being mothers. Can the PhD columnist measure the psychological mess in such a class? I understand that the government position is explicit in that after delivering, the girls are allowed to continue with their studies under a different formal arrangement whilst the men found to have impregnated them are subjected to stern jail terms of up to 30 years in prison.
Then again, the so-called PhD candidates comes up with “the human rights” issue for Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual (LGBTI), she was seemingly happy in her article that some donors have withdrawn aid due to the government of Tanzania’s stance on homosexuals. The scholar missed it big time-human rights are not universal, culture, norms and diversity must be accepted; even the EU court had ruled-homosexual is not a human right.
It is true that some European countries had threatened to cut aids after the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr Paul Makonda, had ordered a clampdown on gay people. The order was immediately disowned by the Tanzania’s Foreign Minister, Dr Augustine Mahiga, based on procedural issues but the Government of President Magufuli maintains its stance against homosexuality.
Same sex relationship is a crime in Tanzania and perpetrators may face up to 30 years in jail, according to the Sexual Offences Special Provision Act (1998) and the Penal Code.
What is more, not only in Tanzania but LGBTI rights have been challenged in a number of African countries, including Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia and parts of Nigeria. Worldwide, more than 80 countries have penalized it worldwide and even in some US boroughs and cities it is contested.
The biased author and her editors allege further that Tanzania has been ruled by the same party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) since independence from the British colonialist in 1961 but “it has never been a democratic.”
McLellan should understand better unlike many countries in Africa and beyond, Tanzania remains among a handful of countries where the mantle of leadership (read presidency) are handed over peaceful after General Elections where electorates vote for leaders of their choice.
Since re-introduction of multiparty politics in Tanzania in 1992, the country has held General Elections in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2015 and never has any country in the west pointed a finger at the polls for not being fair or credible, one would wonder where the author picks her ill-intended inventions. Opposition MPs are also increasingly elected. It looks like the PhD holder has a new definition of democracy; it is not democratic when and until opposition parties win presidential seat! What a pity for a PhD holder.
The author falsely claims further that since President Magufuli was elected in 2015, opposition politicians have been arrested, harassed and beaten while regime critics — journalists, business executives, opposition politicians, student leaders — have been kidnapped. He is a liar.
For a candidate pursuing a PhD, she should have provided some tangible evidence to support her claims. Instead she just writes with malice to satisfy the sponsors of the mudsling campaign. Yes, I’m reading some MPs being prosecuted for violating national laws. These have included ruling party, CCM, MPs who were once prosecuted for allegation of bribery.
Putting all matters in perspective, it is noticeable that President Magufuli’s unwavering reforms aimed at boosting socio-economic welfare of the people are shaking the hitherto plunderers of Tanzania’s resources and rather wrongly are turning their guns at a determined and unshakable leader.
I thought, as a concerned western citizen I should play my civil rights role by denouncing our own sponsored fake news. It is very bad. The Washington Post should at least have exercised accountability, seriously so, but in vain. I encourage President Magufuli to stick to his reform agenda.
